Flynn: Disgraced former spy chief undone by Russia entanglement

WASHINGTON: Michael Flynn’s downfall was as swift as his rise to become Donald Trump’s top national security aide was slow and steady.

After three decades climbing the ranks of US military intelligence, it took just 10 months from being sworn in as the president’s national security advisor for a disgraced Flynn to plead guilty to charges of lying to the FBI.

A pivotal player in Trump’s shock election campaign, Flynn’s admission on Friday that he lied about contacts with Russia, hurtled him into the centre of a scandal that could imperil the presidency itself.

Flynn’s stride into Washington’s district courthouse instantly entered the annals of American political history — right alongside Watergate mugshots and grainy images of JFK’s fateful open-top ride in Dallas.

In pleading guilty, the 58 yearold also pledged to cooperate with the deepening FBI probe into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and a Russian effort to tilt the 2016 election in his favour.

A wiry, energetic figure with sharp facial features, the retired three-star general was one of the few high-profile military figures willing to embrace Trump during the Republican’s maverick election campaign.

Flynn’s hardline stance on militant Islam and his penchant for engaging Russia had seen him forced out as the head of Barack Obama’s Defence Intelligence Agency.

But those very same views drew him into Trump’s orbit.

Such was their personal bond that he was even on the shortlist for vice presidential candidate.

At the Republican convention that nominated Trump for president, Flynn delivered a fiery attack on Democrat Hillary Clinton, even leading the crowd in chants of “Lock her up!”

But his own fate was sealed when he discussed US sanctions with Russia’s ambassador weeks before Trump was sworn in as president, just as thenpresident Obama was ordering new actions against Moscow over its alleged interference in the US election.

Barely a month into his job as White House national security advisor, Flynn was forced to resign in February due to public concerns over his contacts with the Russian envoy.

It was not the first time Russia had become a problem for the retired army lieutenant general. — AFP